German Beef Rouladen Recipe + Homemade Spaetzle



This amazing beef rouladen is stuffed up with mustard, pickles, and onions and served with a delicious easy to make beef gravy.

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About the Author: Chef Billy Parisi

47 Comments

  1. My mom made this. But she didn't put pickles in it. Just a lot of bacon, onions, and some course black pepper and salt. She'd fix mashed potatoes, red cabbage and candied carrots with it, and gravy. She always made the red cabbage from scratch.

  2. If you want to make traditional spaetzles, spread out the dough bit by bit onto a small cutting board preferably one with a handle. Dip a Chef's knife into the salted boiling water and slice off board-wide pieces of dough flinging it into the water. That flinging motion elongates and shapes the spaetzles before they hit the water. Warning: this can be messy because of occasional misses but it's worth the effort. A little fresh-ground nutmeg added to the batter boosts the flavor of the spaetzles but don't overdo it. The nutmeg should be in the background.

  3. You should not cool the pasta in cold water, but rather just drain it after removing it from the cooking pot and add a good piece of butter, this gives the spaetzle/pasta an indispensable taste.

  4. German here, but I've never had good rouladen if I'm honest. Every time my grandmother made them or when I had them at a restaurant they were dry and bland. But then in my experience finding a restaurant in Germany that makes good german food is actually rather difficult. This recipe looks so good though, mixing the wine and jelly into the sauce must give it a really interesting flavour profile.

  5. Well made, Sir!
    Just some hints regarding the terminology: The word "RouladenS" makes no sence because "Rouladen" is the plural already (a single one of them is a "Roulade").
    However, if you insist on an English plural it would be "Roulades".
    Also the pasta is pronounced "Spätz-LE" instead of "Spätz-EL" (the letters are pronounced in the same order as they are written). 🙂

  6. You can also leave the vegtetables in the sauce and puree it. It's of course going to be different but also good. That's the way my parents always do it, but they also use an instant pot. It's a classic meal for christmas.

  7. German here! Well done! This is the classical Rouladen recepeit! Like my mom used to make them! The explaination on the searing is perfect, the veggie prep is right, the deglaze in spot on! And at the end you so got it right by adding the redcurrant jelly… Man! .. Overall a perfect video by a non-German on this project! And as I am just about to click away… then you throw in Spätzle… you have got to be kidding me…!!? it does not get any better than this? Really, really well done.. ! 
    And then… wait… you show us how to serve it! As a cooking German I say: Best Rouladen Video on The Net! … Thank you for that!!!

  8. My absolute FAVORITE! My late mother would make me rouladen for my birthday, June 27th. Even if it was 27-30° C outside this hearty comfort dish would hit the spot. May I suggest red cabbage also to this dish. 😊

  9. Hello billy I am a German and spetzle is my food that sp in German is pronounced shp I was born in to a German immigrant family and German and English are my first languages I have one of these spetzle makers I bought mine on amazon I am a food blogger from WordPress I never went to culinary school I am a home chef however and I am nearly self taught but my influence come from my grandfather and he is my muse

  10. Some cooks are putting meat in the oven and an equal amount cook on the stovetop. Being that it's summer, I'd rather not use the oven. Does anyone know if there's a downside to using the cooktop? Thanks

  11. I am an English guy, used to work in Germany a lot and I had Beef Rouladen in Bavaria and it completely took my breath away. I always knew I was a fan of German beer but who ever talks about the food? Street food is amazing also and I still crave Currywurst and Frikadellen; I also remember a Goulash and French Onion Soup I had in Germany, and they too are very memorable.

  12. One crucial step you overlooked, so I’ll call it a tip instead: press those cooked veggies through the chinois! It adds a tremendous about of extra flavour, body/texture and the colour of the Soße (sauce or gravy) is lightened (ie correct 😉)

  13. Just a simple comment from a swabian: just cook the spätzle and do not fry them in a pan. They will not soak the sauce as good as just cooked. I highly recommend just waiting for the rouladen to get ready and make the spätzle just in time to serve.
    Also: making spätzle by hand (without an kitchen aid) is the best lower arm workout on earth 😉

  14. Yes Rouladen are soooo tasty. Here in Germany there are many variants dependent on the region. Here in Northern Germany we like them with good yellow potatoes grown on sandy ground and Rotkohl or Brechbohnen. Sorry i do not know the english names for that vegetables. Most germans are used to let the beef cut in 5-6mm thick slices at the butchers cutting machine. So you do not have to beat them with the mallet. They become tender anyway because of the long cookingtime…

  15. My dad used to love making these and I'm carrying the torch. I loved seeing that you make them almost exactly like our own family recipe. Allow me to critique your Spätzle ever so slightly (as a native Swabian, that is my birthright 😀 ) – The batter needs to be whisked by hand using a wooden spoon and doesn't need to be all smooth. If you want it even better, use "Weizendunst" which is kinda the inbetween of flour and semolina and sparkling water. And the true king will make them by scraping them into the water off a small cutting board 💪
    But hey, they look PERFECT and all in all you've made me very happy while watching this.

  16. Some tips as a German: We don't use sirloin, ribeye or flanksteak for Rouladen because it is too good to stew. Top round, bottom round or eye round is good. In addition, we do not plate the meat, but cut it directly into larger and thinner pieces.
    With the gherkins (many use cornichons here) you really do not have to cut off the ends. In addition, I would also advise here to very thin slices than to sticks, but of course everyone can do it as he likes.
    Whether to use bacon (many people use here fat bacon) or Black Forest ham (Schwarzwälder Schinken) is a matter of faith. There is no right answer here.
    Classic German mustard is used for the mustard like he said in the video. Some also use half normal mustard, the other half sweet mustard.
    The onions classically go in the roulade, but you can also just add them to the sauce.
    When rolling the roulades, there is also no direct specification of how to do it. In a restaurant, I would definitely use the technique as in the video. Many housewives will not roll up the roulades on the side beforehand, as the roulade will hold up in the end that way, and when rolled up properly, little to no content will come out of the roll.
    You can use butcher's wine or needles, it doesn't really matter.
    But please use more wine, that is really little he used here. In the end, however, you should definitely add some heavy cream or creme fraiche (to taste) to the roulades.
    I can't say anything about the spaetzle, I'm not a Swabian.

    But overall really did a good job in the video 👍

  17. Don´t put them in a oven, just cook them. It is important to reduce the sauce and fill it up again up with water. But you have to check regulary that they did not get burnt.

  18. Also German here: 7:05 If done right, it really doesn't taste good at that time. You really need to roast the veggies with the tomato paste until the bottom of your pot is completely covered with a dark brown layer. If you than deglace with dry red wine, all you will taste at this time is the roast flavors, as well as the terpenes and alcohol from the red wine. It is more of a bitter mess. The magic happens in the following 2 hours (i actually prefer 3 hours). So don't be discouraged if it doesn't taste awesome at the beginning. Just trust me, it's worth the patience.
    For the ones suggesting the use of a pressure cooker: Just don't! You will get the tenderness, but you will get nowhere near the flavors. Been there, done that…

  19. i am sorry but there are some things you do totally wrong.. the onion for the rouladen dont come raw on the beef you but them like 1 min to roast and then the spaetzle you dont use a machine you beat the spaetzle with your hand or a stick till it make big bubbles, also use a little bit watersoda.

  20. I'm from germany and i eat spaetzle since im 1 years old and your spaetzle dough is completly wrong you just need eggs, flavor a little bit Soda water

  21. Gherkins? Jesus christ, please stop
    1. the correct spelling of this pickled vegetable is Gurke (cucumber in eng. Feminin singular) or Gurken (cucumbers in eng. feminin plural) not Gherkins
    2. The correct pronounciation ist Gu (as in the oo of oof) r ken (as in the name Ken)
    3. There is literally no need to violate the german language. English has a perfectly suitable word for Gurken, its called pickled cucumber, or just pickles.

    Edit:
    Also, RouladenS is incorrect. Roulade (feminin, singular), RouladeN (feminin, plural). The -n at the end indicates the plural. However, that isnt the case with all words in German. for Example: das Auto (eng: car, neuter singular), die Autos (eng: cars, neuter plural)

    And bevor anyone complains, i Germany we say: Nicht geschimpft ist lob genug (not getting scolded is enough praise)

  22. Man that jelly and butter in the end for the sauce just killed it for me bro. It was a kinda wierd rezipe from the beginning with the sellerie and all but i still thought "ehh why not". But as a german who loves this dish, I cannot approve this rezipe 🙁

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